Police shot and critically wounded a man Saturday suspected of chasing his girlfriend with a handgun across a shopping mall parking lot before ducking into a movie theater where officers confronted him.

A San Diego Fire-Rescue Department dispatcher said the suspect was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Officers went to an outdoor shopping center, where the theater is located, in response to a domestic violence call.

The owner of a business next to the theater said officers told him the armed man chased his girlfriend across a parking lot. Steve Krongard, the owner of the Nickel City arcade, said police shut down the lot, checked every car leaving the mall and went from businesses to business to look for the suspect until they found him in the theater.

"There were 20 police cars blocking the entrance, then the fire truck and the ambulance rushed in," Krongard said. "Then we saw seven cops with what looked like rifles, then paramedics went into the theater."

The theater's manager told Krongard the shooting occurred during a screening of "Les Misérables."

Adrian Amante, the owner of a mall store, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that people started running out of the theater and hiding behind cars.

A moviegoer told KGTV the lights suddenly went on during the film and two officers came into the theater with their guns. Another witness told the station that everyone got on the floor and started heading for the exit doors.